Gender, Love and Education in Three Generations

Abstract

The paths to adulthood for the last three generations of young Norwegian women have been accompanied by significant geographical and social changes. How has this process of modernization been experienced from 'below': from the perspective of everyday life and through the eyes of the young women themselves? This article presents results from a three-generational study consisting of interviews with a sample of 18-year-old Norwegian girls, their mothers and grandmothers. The significance of upbringing, parental identification and management of gender for young women's processes of modernization is analysed. These issues affect choices made in education and romantic relationships -choices crucial to social mobility. The study looks at how the processes of social mobility and cultural modernization have been associated with the psychological project of becoming adults for these young women.KEY WORDS adolescence x education x generation x love x social change x young girls What is entailed in the process of growing up? There is little doubt that the answer to this question varies according to culture, social class and generation. Still, the following elements often apply: moving out from the parental home, becoming economically independent of the parents and involvement in sexual relations. How have these rites of passage been performed by young Norwegian women over the last three generations? In what order do they occur and what do they imply? What means have been available socially, culturally and psychologically for becoming an adult?We discuss this topic by presenting the results from a study across three generations. A group of eight 18-year-old Norwegian girls and their mothers and grandmothers were interviewed, with the aim of analysing changing patterns in adolescence, with particular attention to genderThe European Journal of Women's Studies

The Talking Cure in Everyday Life: Gender, Generations and Friendship

“…The language of transmission can suggest a seamless form of cultural reproduction within the family, potentially downplaying the ways in which such 'inherited' dispositions may be contested or transformed. Nevertheless, crossgenerational studies shed light on the passage and impact of social changes upon families and individuals, providing a view of history 'from below', and insight into relationships between subjectivity and the social over time (Nielsen and Rudberg, 2000).…”

Context and “contextualisation” in sex and relationships education

“…Hillier et al, 1999). The hesitancy to invest emotionally in a relationship because of other current priorities (particularly in relation to educational attainment) has been noted in other studies and been linked to youth transitions (Nielsen and Rudberg, 2000;Thomson and Holland, 2002;Thomson et al, 2003). This small scale, in-depth qualitative study has been able to identify a range of factors that influenced the sexual and intimate relationship attitudes and experiences of the young people concerned.…”

Childhoods Across the Generations

“…In recounting the stories of their lives, informants typically moved between different life course phases. Great-grandmothers looked back from a late phase in the life course over the whole of their lives which gave them access to a greater number of interpretative contexts (Nielsen and Rudberg, 2000). They were, on the other hand, distant from earlier life course phases.…”